Punxatawny, Pennsylvania, has made a gold mine out of a scruffy rodent by trotting him out before the cameras on Groundhog Day to see if he sees his shadow. I think it’s time for Newtown to come up with a gimmick. Here’s my suggestion: Let’s bring Newtown Finance Director Ben Spragg out of his office in the Finance Department on February 2 and see if he sees his shadow. If he does, we will know that there are at least six more weeks to budget season.

Ben has started the budget season with a handsome surplus… of hair… on his chin. He is now sporting a well-groomed goatee that should be set off by a shadow quite nicely.

Ben has been known to be thrifty with the town’s money during his nearly 20 years of service to Newtown. However, he tends to get a little generous around budget time. Take, for example, the social services budget. Ben added 72 cents, which was much appreciated by director Glynis Lanzetta. As it turns out, Ben’s computer does not recognize any figures on the right side of the decimal point.

Workers at Canaan House got a bit of a surprise last week when they went to pull up the carpeting in the former Parks & Recreation Department. They discovered the carpeting was glued to asbestos tiled floor, prompting them to stop in their tracks. In order to remove the carpet, major abatement work would need to be done first. For now, the stained and smelly rug, which has been there for more than 20 years, will have to stay where it is.

Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers Chairman Edgar Beers told the Board of Selectmen Monday that there simply is not enough money to address all the maintenance issues at the historic Main Street building.

“We look for a buck any way we can get it. I’ve been trying to convince Bill Honan to have a bake sale on the front steps on Saturdays,” he joked.

The large snow piles which were in the parking lot of Edmond Town Hall last week have diminished considerably with a spell of warm weather and snow-melting rains. What had looked like a small ski area now looks like a stretch of sand flats at low tide. I bet those stormwater catch basins are filling up with sediment – so there’s a little more maintenance for Edgar to think about.

Things are looking a little less bleak at Planning and Zoning Commission meetings. The commission is now holding its meetings in the area formerly occupied by the Parks and Recreation Department at Canaan House at Fairfield Hills. Although the meeting space is far from perfect, it sure beats the depressing brick-lined day room where the P&Z meetings formerly took place.

The police department holds sessions on crime prevention for neighborhood residents interested in creating a neighborhood crime watch program to guard against residential burglaries. People interested in organizing a neighborhood watch program may contact police at 426-5841 for details. By the way, work should be starting pretty soon on creating a combined emergency dispatch center in the police station. Interior remodeling will create a facility to provide dispatching facilities for police, fire, and ambulance calls. Fire and ambulance calls are now dispatched from Edmond Town Hall.

The NHS boys’ basketball team has been attracting big crowds at its home games of late, especially during its nine-game winning streak. The fire marshal’s office was reportedly planning a “fire watch” for all home games due to the high volume of people who have been packing the gymnasium. A “fire watch” means a fire official would remain on site to observe for any fire hazards.

Tom Mayhew, a 1989 NHS graduate, was lucky enough to be bumped up to first class for his flight home from Washington, D.C., two weeks ago. An MCI employee, Tom had been in Washington on business and was headed back to Atlanta… along with a few VIPs. Up in first class, he sat alongside former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn, along with Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr Martin Luther King. Tom says Jimmy was very nice, asking him, “Have you ever met my wife, Rosalyn?”

Curt Michaels of Swamp Road is one of a handful or people who claim to have seen an object in the sky along Route 25 near the Newtown/Monroe line. But unlike the others, he doesn’t believe it was a UFO. It was a plane flying extremely low, he said. “Why on earth would a UFO be hanging around Swamp Road?” he wondered. “There’s the old Batchelder toxic waste dump, but that’s it.”

Marie and Dick Sturdevant returned home Monday from a week in St Thomas with the Meiers and the Conovers. The vacation was great but the Sturdevants arrived home with a bout of food poisoning. Marie is convinced it was from the food on the airplane. “I think it was the tortellini,” she confided.

Joe Kelly of Newtown, coordinator of the Earn-A-Bike Program for Danbury Youth Services, is looking for someone to donate storage space for about 75 bikes. The building where the group currently houses the bikes is being sold, and the new owner has asked that the bikes be removed from the property. If anyone knows of an available secured cold storage facility, preferably in central Danbury, that might allow Earn-A-Bike to store the bikes, either temporarily or on a longer term, call Mr Kelly at 270-1252 or Jim Walsh at DYS, 203/748-2936. The program is funded by grants, but there are no funds to cover storage/rental fees.

Some men are supermen on Super Bowl Sunday. Consider this overheard conversation at My Place Sunday morning:

A gentleman brought a recipe and asked the waiter to ask the cook for an explanation of some abbreviations on it.  He wanted to know what a capital C meant (cups) and what capital T meant (tablespoons).  Clearly he would be cooking that day for the first time in a long time.

Governor Rowland proclaimed January 28 through February 3 School-to-Career Week, and February 2 as Job Shadow Day for students throughout Connecticut. A Newtown High School staff member tried to set up a job shadow day for a student with Governor Rowland, but was told by the person answering the phone at the Governor’s office that he was not participating.

Hats off to the Band and Color Guard parents for organizing the fourth annual Winter Guard Festival at the high school January 27. Over 400 people attended the competition. Everyone looked like they were enjoying the performances by the 12 schools competing.

That’s it for this week. Excuse me while I go out to look for my shadow. No matter what I find there, however, my prediction will be the same. Next week at this time, you will…

Read me again.